Clara Clemens

Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud
Clara Clemens, ca. 1908.
Background information
Birth name	Clara Langhorne Clemens
Born	(1874-06-08)June 8, 1874 Elmira, New York, U.S.
Died	November 19, 1962(1962-11-19) (aged 88) San Diego, California, U.S.
Genres	Concert singer
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1906–1908
Associated acts	Marie Nichols and Charles Edmund "Will" Wark

Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud, formerly Clara Langhorne Clemens Gabrilowitsch (June 8, 1874 – November 19, 1962), was the daughter of Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain. She was a contralto concert singer and, as her father's only surviving child, managed his estate and guarded his legacy after his death. She was married twice—first to Ossip Gabrilowitsch, then (after Gabrilowitsch's death) to Jacques Samossoud. She wrote biographies of Gabrilowitsch and of her father. In her later life she became a Christian Scientist.

Clara was the second of three daughters born to Samuel Clemens and his wife Olivia Langdon Clemens in Elmira, New York. Her older sister, Susy, died when Clara was 22. Her only brother, Langdon, died as an infant before she was born. Her younger sister was Jean. Clara had a serious accident as a child, while riding a toboggan she ended up being hurled into a great oak tree. This resulted in a severe leg injury that almost led to amputation.

She spent the period from September 1897 to May 1899 living in Vienna with her parents. While there, she cultivated her voice for the purpose of going on the concert stage. Her voice was characterized as unusually sweet and attractive. She also studied piano in 1899 under Theodor Leschetizky, who had been a pupil of Carl Czerny. In December 1900, she was invited by the people of Hartford to perform at a grand concert given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She studied for several years under masters in Europe, before making her professional debut in Florence. Her American debut, assisted by violinist Marie Nichols, as a contralto concert singer was on the evening of September 22, 1906 at the Norfolk Gymnasium. in Norfolk, Connecticut where in 1905 she rented Edgewood, Clemens used the proceeds from the concert to purchase a memorial window for her mother in the Norfolk Church of the Transfiguration, Episcopal. Charles Edmund "Will" Wark (1876-1954), a classical pianist originally from Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, became Clemens piano accompanist from the winter of 1906 to late in 1908. Clemens and Nichols also continued to perform together, including a series of concerts in London and Paris in 1908. On May 30, Clemens debuted in London at a benefit concert, raising money for American girls to attend Oxford and Cambridge Universities.